Mark Cann
Mark Cann Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 and other ventures
Fundraising for The British Forces Foundation
Story
I am going again for the Ride London 100 in August 2016. Still Mad? Not really. I enjoy it and especially enjoyed losing the weight and getting properly fit again. I have also persuaded 140 people to ride for BFF this year so feel I need to share the pain! Places are still available if you want to join me.
If you sponsored me last year or the year before please do not do so again unless you want to give a few quid to BFF but 2014 was a one off and i am not asking again. If you did not here is a chance and I appreciate it. read the letters from previous years below to get the gist of things!
…………………………….
In a recession the first thing you lose as a charity CEO is your dignity!!
I have added my original plea below in case I missed anyone at the beginning. Many of you have been kind enough to say you will donate a few quid and I really do understand and appreciate how boring all these sponsorship requests are. I have also persuaded 100 friends and random passers by on the street to join me for the BFF cause. A small group amongst the 20,000 riders most of whom appear professional to us amateurs.
The easiest way to give is through Just Giving.
...................................................
For years I have done the obligatory sponsoring of friends, acquaintances, colleagues and frankly people I did not know from Adam. I consoled myself by saying " one day, if I can be arsed I am going to do something and get sponsored myself". That day has come.
My challenge is to do 100 miles on the Olympic cycling course in under 8 hours. Well it sounded easy to me when the office creatively duped me into it, until I did 30 miles the other day, had 3 punctures, a sore arse and was completely shattered and that was only a third of the distance. I then did some research which if true says anyone can do 70 miles but 100 with two big hills is a real push and ….. "can not be done without SIGNIFICANT training". Further research reveals the start of this Ride London is at 6AM. Anyone who knows me even vaguely will know that getting up at 4AM to be at the start for 6AM is as bigger challenge as riding the 100 miles!!
Whilst this may not be Everest – it's my Everest.
I have shelled out a small fortune in trying to go quicker for less effort, read every biking website on the internet, including the one about the risk of impotence and never feeling ones parts again, in an attempt to find the answers I wanted. As always I am slow to the conclusion and that is simply that I have to put the hours in. In order to still see my children, keep my job and stay married these hours tend to be early and I mean before 8 o'clock!
Enough waffle the really important thing is that I am doing this to raise awareness and cash for The British Forces Foundation (BFF) who will get the lions share and the Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust (WBVT)which I am a Trustee of. The BFF you will know I am committed to. It looks after the morale and wellbeing of serving members of the Armed Forces and does an important job. WBVT protects the elderly, vulnerable and disadvantaged in Wiltshire from crime and risk as well as victims of domestic violence. Two excellent charities.
I would like to raise £10,000. Being a charity exec I know all the criticisms and so I will pay all my own costs (including the lycra and jersey), entry fee etc.
I know this is a personal thing as much as a public one and everyone is fed up with endless sponsored challenges but that is not why I want you to sponsor me. This is either revenge or payback!!
Therefore please sponsor me by going to Donate and in the notes indicating which type of sponsor you are.
There are four levels of sponsorship I am proposing:
Bronze - £25+ You are a Bronze sponsor because You have always found me irritating or worse but concede I may have done you a minor favour at some stage and so you reluctantly give this sponsorship on the understanding I will never contact you again or ask for any sponsorship again.
Silver - £50+ even though you don't like me you concede I may have done you a favour worthy of support in return.
Gold - £10 - £500. You have always liked me and happily support such a noble endeavour.
Platinum £500 - £1000. Whether you like me or not is irrelevant but you know I either have the pictures and compromising stories ready to hit the internet or know you are absolutely minted and will think less of you for giving the petty amount expected of people on my kind of salary! Or both.
I shall send a souvenir picture of me in my lycra to those who deserve it and a video doing nasty stuff to those who don't.
Sincerely I shall be humbled and greatly appreciative on behalf of both charities for any support you can give.
Yours ever
Mark
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.